


Such Foolishness

by junko



Series: Scatter and Howl [38]
Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 05:39:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5152364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byakuya is returned to the estate to serve out the rest of his sentence under house arrest.  Renji has to convince the Sixth Division not to throw the captain a welcome home party, despite his own sense of joy.</p><p>Auntie, meanwhile....</p>
            </blockquote>





	Such Foolishness

Byakuya had been sitting jinzen with Senbonzakura when some part of his consciousness registered a knock at his cell door. A knock? Was he not still in prison? Blinking away the last of the mediation, he set Senbonzakura on the floor beside him and, feeling foolish, said: “Enter.”

Soi Fon opened the door and tossed a uniform at his feet. 

He stared at the shihakushō with mixed emotions. He supposed he couldn’t refuse it. He was a soldier, after all. Though he would have thought that he could wear whatever he liked given that he was now confined to a solitary, private cell. 

He picked it up, uncertain of his own hesitation. Did he prefer the white cotton because it was simpler and he’d chosen it himself? Or was it that he firmly believed his crime to belong to his civilian heart, himself as a man, and not as a military officer?

“I received orders from the Captain-Commander that you’re to be transferred to house arrest,” Soi Fon informed him without preamble, in her no-nonsense, straight-forward way.

House arrest? Directly from Yamamoto? Why? What had changed? Byakuya could think of only one thing, and he didn’t like what that might mean.

Gathering the silks in his hands, Byakuya moved to where the chamber pot was hidden behind a half wall. It would be enough concealment. Prison had dampened his need for perfect privacy for his nakedness. However, he was still modest enough that he turned his back to Soi Fon as he stripped out of the white uniform and pulled the shitagi over his shoulders. 

“Do you know what caused the Soutaicho to issue this change in orders?” Byakuya asked, managing to keep his voice even, though his fingers shook as he tied up the side of the shitagi. It must have been Renji. He must have gone straight to the Head Captain and told him about the assault. And now…? Was he shamed forever in the Captain-Commander’s eyes? In everyone’s….?

Byakuya glanced over his shoulder, a question forming on his lips, hanging in his gaze.

As if understanding his silence, Soi Fon shook her head. “Your family seems convinced that I allowed assassins from your clan inside my prison walls.” Soi Fon let out a sound that was half grinding teeth and half a growl of frustration. “I would have dissuaded them of that notion, except the truth is far more embarrassing. I had no idea that the warden was so far gone.”

If Byakuya’s mouth weren’t filled with one of the hakama ties, he would have sputtered ‘family??!’ in horror…. and deep relief. So, this was about the assassins and not the assault. Byakuya allowed himself a steadying breath. That was… better. However, it now meant he ‘owed’ his aunt for her ‘rescue,’ perhaps. 

Finishing with the hakama, Byakuya threaded an arm through a sleeve of the kosode. Turning around, he said dryly, “Trust me, it’s impossible to dissuade my family once they have decided something. Even if you had argued, they wouldn’t have listened.”

Soi Fon let out a huffing breath, “Clans, eh?”

Byakuya nodded. After all, Soi Fon, too, was a clan head. Coming around from behind the half wall, Byakuya retrieved Senbonzakura from the floor. Looking at it, he was reminded of his own hunger and the way his hands had ached when Senbonzakura was kept from him. Thinking of that, reminded him of the warden and her peculiar ways. “I would have sworn I saw the beginnings of a Hollow hole on the warden.”

Soi Fon glanced away as though irritated. Her lips were a thin line. “Yes, well,” she said, “I wouldn’t be surprised. We don’t have all the details yet. All the Fourth Division would tell me is that something caused her zanpakutō to stop talking to her, to get cut off. Only, somehow, Hanatori didn’t realize what was happening, and unconsciously was trying to fill the… emptiness with…” Soi Fon make a hissing noise, like an irritated cat. Standing up straighter, she glared at everything, like the whole idea made her spitting mad. “The energy of other people’s zanpakutō. She literally had a captive audience to experiment on.” Her eyes met Byakuya’s now, hotly. “Do you have any idea much I hate creepy science-y people like this? Why is it always the Third Seats in this wretched Division?”

Byakuya had no answer to that, though he was quite well aware of Soi Fon’s dislike of Kisuke Urahara, the previous Third and warden of the Maggot’s Nest. Rumor had it, she’d had him locked in a kidō box after the fight for Fake Karakura Town, just because she could.

“Are you dressed?” she snapped, clearly fuming. “Let’s get this travesty over with.”

Byakuya did his best to stay out of her line of fire, as it were. He kept his thoughts to himself as she escorted him to the Sixth Division.

#

Renji was keeping his mouth shut, though it wasn’t easy.

Aunt Masama had fumed at everyone and everything in her way once he’d brought her back to the estate, but Renji remained her favorite target. It was ‘dog’ or ‘filth’ or ‘animal’ any chance she got. He tried to act like it was a compliment, but it still stung. It was too many years of being on the ass end of that kind of insult, and he’d hated all that Inuzuri dog bullshit since his first days at Academy.

When he’d followed her into the estate, she’d asked Eishirō, in an overly loud voice, if it was ‘now policy to let stray dogs in the front door.’ 

Taking her cloak, Eishirō glanced at Renji long enough to give him a wink, and then said, dryly, “Only when it’s Master Renji, my lady.”

She glared at him. “I suppose you think this is all so very funny.”

Eishirō bowed deeply, but when he came up, he said, “Not at all, I find it all rather romantic. Shall I bring your luncheon to the sitting room or will you be leaving immediately?” Turning away from her as much as he dared, Eishirō addressed Renji. “Did things with the Head Captain go well? Should we prepare for my lord’s return?”

“Yeah,” Renji said with a ghost of a smile at the thought, “Yeah, you should. Thanks to the Lady Kuchiki here, Byakuya is coming home.”

Ever one to take a compliment well, Masama’s lip curled. “Please refrain from such familiarity. My nephew should be addressed as Kuchiki-sama.”

Renji couldn’t resist. He gave her his most wolfish smile and said, “Maybe by you, but I’m on a bit more intimate level with him than you are, Lady. If you really want to know, I usually call him ‘babe.’”

Her mouth opened, closed, and then she stomped off in a fury of silks.

Eishirō shook his head as they both watched her retreat though the echoing, minimalistic main greeting room. Once the fusuma panel swished closed behind her, Eishirō glanced up at Renji and said, “As satisfying as that was, we probably made a mistake. I shouldn’t have started it.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Renji sighed. “Byakuya would never let anything happen to you. I mean, he didn’t even make a full month without you. Me, well, it’s a lost cause. She hated me from first sight, and nothing is going to change that.”

Nodding, Eishirō reached up and adjusted Renji’s collar. “It’s a healthy attitude, sir. ‘You be you,’ as they say in the Human World. It’s better than trying to bend to be something you’re not.”

“You mean like Rukia tried to be?” Renji asked, tolerating Eishirō’s fussing. Though he batted Eishirō’s hands away when it looked like he was going to try to ‘fix’ something about Renji’s topknot. 

Eishirō frowned at him as though irritated at being thwarted. “You need something better to hold your hair back. I’ll have it ordered. And, yes, I mean, like Lady Rukia.” He finished his fussing by brushing down Renji’s shoulders, standing on tiptoes to do it. “You and I both know that she’s a charming and wonderful woman just as she is, when she’s being herself. But, she tried to hold all that back in an effort to appease the unappeasable.” He glanced the direction Masama had gone, and then gave Renji a last looking over, nodding as though pleased with his ministrations. “Better to just let time do its work. Either they’ll get used to you, or they won’t.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Renji said. “That aunt is one tough nut, though, you know what I mean? She’s on the warpath with me. I think she’s going to try to make a civil case out of the insubordination. If she manages it, I’d lose that in a heartbeat. Ain’t no such thing as a jury of my peers around these parts. All of them are Peers, if you get my drift.”

“I find it hard to believe that Lady Kuchiki would be willing to paint the 28th Kuchiki Clan Head as the victim of domestic abuse just to get rid of you. I would think it would be too dishonorable for the Kuchiki name.”

Renji chuckled darkly. “I wouldn’t be so sure, especially with the 29th waiting in the wings. Maybe she’ll just pile up her evidence and go after me the second the investiture is complete.”

“Heavens forbid,” Eishirō said, making some kind of sign to ward off evil Renji had never seen before. It must have been something specific to his original District, or that of his ancestor’s. 

Inuzuri had its own gods, of course, but mostly people’s superstitions revolved around how you talked about the yakuza, as in how you never talked about a Mob Boss, but instead you discussed your Good Neighbor. The only sign Renji’d ever seen anyone make like that was hand cant that basically meant ‘run away,’ or ‘flee,’ but in the right context could be ‘banish.’

In solidarity, he made that hand sign now. “Right, well, I better get the Division in order before Byakuya gets back.”

#

The homecoming Byakuya had hoped for did not, in any way, involve his Aunt Masama. Yet, there she was, a bright smile on her face, and tears in her eyes. She rushed to him and put her hands on his face, “Oh, my dear boy,” she sniffed. “How could they cut your hair?”

“I refused to allow it to be searched by a stranger,” Byakuya said, pulling out of her grasp. “Be grateful there were no lice or fleas in my cell or it would be far shorter.”

Having watched this interaction, Soi Fon seemed to approve of Byakuya’s cold response. She gave his aunt a brief nod, but spoke to Byakuya, “My duty is to leave a small retinue of ninja here who will act on my behalf to make sure that you are abiding by the terms of house arrest. As a captain of the Gotei it is understood that it may be necessary for you to attend to Division work inside the barracks from time to time, but it is similarly expected that you will keep such interactions to a minimum and obey the spirit of the arrest.”

“Yes, of course,” Byakuya said. “You may count on my loyalty.”

“I count on no one’s loyalty,” she said fiercely. “If my ninja can’t contain you themselves, Captain, rest assured they will report directly to both me and the Head Captain.”

“I would expect nothing else,” Byakuya said.

Without even a nod of acknowledgement, Soi Fon vanished in a flash of shunpo.

After Soi Fon had disappeared, Aunt Masama clucked her tongue. “My, my, she’s a rather horrible woman, isn’t she?”

Only centuries of self-discipline kept Byakuya from saying ‘takes one to know one.’ Instead, he glanced around the main receiving room like he’d never seen a place more wonderful. Truly, the estate had never felt more like home. “Please tell me that Eishirō is preparing a feast? I’m ravenous.”

The heir, Shinobu, waved to Byakuya from the stairs. Just visible in his hair, the kenseikan, appeared to be taking the shape of rippled cones, almost like corkscrews, though they weren’t quite there yet. Currently they were lumpish and still a bit deformed. At least they no longer seemed like some kind of mange out of which clots of hair stuck. In time, they would be quite serviceable, possibly beautiful. “Come up to the library, Byakuya-sama," Shinobu said. "There’s a fire going and fresh coals in the kotatsu.”

Byakuya couldn’t be more grateful to hear that, but he still glanced around for the person he most wanted to see.

“I’ll have Aio fetch Renji from the Division, shall I, m’lord?” Eishirō asked, coming up to bring Byakuya a warmed blanket for his shoulders. “And, perhaps see if the Lady Rukia could join you, as well?”

Even under Aunt Masama’s sudden hard glare, Byakuya was able to smile a little. “That would be incredibly wonderful. Thank you very much.”

#

The Sixth Division, Renji thought with a fond and mischievous smile, really kind of sucked at all variations of ‘house arrest.’ “You know,” he told Nanako. “I really don’t think we’re supposed to throw a ‘Welcome Home’ party.’The captain hates parties for one, and, two, I’m pretty damn sure Yamamoto would frown on celebrating what’s supposed to be punishment.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Nanako rolled her eyes at him. “Since when are you a stickler for regulations and rules?”

“Oi, I thought that was the Sixth Division’s motto!”

Nanako looked like she was revving up to continue their good natured argument when Aio stuck her head around the open doorway of the lieutenant’s office bashfully. “He’s here,” she said with her quiet, shy enthusiasm. “His lordship is back and he requests your presence for dinner.”

Renji might have cheered a little, despite himself. Nanako gave him a teasing wink and said, “Hey now, no getting all celebratory, Lieutenant. This is serious, solemn business, you know.”

Even though he wanted to bound all the way to the estate like some over-enthusiastic puppy, Renji contained himself. “It is, you know,” Renji said to Nanako. “I get what you’re trying to do. I really do. But we can’t fuck this up in any way shape or form. If Byakuya serves this sentence properly, the First Division has promised to let us work out how things are going to go, between us, with no interference, with him staying as captain and me as lieutenant. If we have any kind of celebration, it’ll be when all of that is done and dusted, okay?”

She nodded a salute, but then stuck out her tongue. “I still say you’re a party pooper.”

#

Byakuya forced out a polite, “We are grateful for your interference on our behalf, Lady Aunt.”

They hadn’t moved from the foyer. Though Byakuya had wanted to abandon Masama in favor of the comfort of the library and its promise of food, he couldn’t. Not while she had streaks of tears on her face. 

“Are you?” she glared at him through her tears.

“Of course I am,” Byakuya assured her. He wanted to say he’d been doing fine on his own, that he’d been coping, but it wasn’t true. He’d only survived because Senbonzakura had returned to him. Without his zanpakutō, Byakuya would be broken, if not completely dead. Solitude, he might have endured, but only if had they allowed him to keep Senbonzakura, which they very well might not have. 

Masama continued to stare at Byakuya, almost accusingly. Her mouth worked like she wanted to say something. Instead, she just let out a sigh. “I wish you would give up on that beast of a man. He causes you nothing but misfortune. Fraternization, Byakuya? He claims you’re the one who admitted to it. Why would you do such a foolish thing?”

_Why would you do such foolish thing?_

His own words to Renji at the Hanami. 

Fate was a circle, it seemed.

Byakuya gave Masama a small, kind smile. “Love. I did it for love,” Byakuya explained. “Serving time for fraternization will mean that we can continue to be together without constraint. I would suffer anything for that.”

“What if I had decided to take this place from you? What if there had been clan war?”

“Wars have been fought for love before today, my lady aunt, and they will be fought for love forever into the future. I’m not the first foolish man, nor will I be the last.” Byakuya felt a wave of weariness wash over him and his stomach made a loud gurgle. “If you would excuse me, I should eat something before my family arrives.”

“Family? You mean those two Inuzuri bitches of yours.”

“Yes, those exact ones,” Byakuya said, not rising to the bait. “I would invite you to join us as a thank you for what you’ve done for me, but, quite frankly, no one would enjoy that.”

She seemed to agree. However, before Byakuya could turn away from her, she said, “You owe me for this, Byakuya Kuchiki. You will owe me double if I leave quietly.”

“I would pay double for such a thing,” Byakuya said carefully. “But the favors must be in kind. I will come to your aid in the future, with all my resources. I would also agree a quiet retreat, letting some argument or other pass unremarked for the sake of peace.”

She nodded. 

Byakuya turned to go. When he was halfway up the stairs, she called after him and, when he looked back, she asked shyly, “Do you know if the Head Captain is married?”


End file.
